To the Editor:
The May 10, 2023, Enterprise story headlined “Study says sense of place, not climate belief, drives negative upstate attitudes toward solar” cited a proposed RIC Energy solar array project next to my house and Thacher Park on 22 acres of land at 1688 Thompsons Lake Road.

The array will undermine the character of the state parks section of Knox, which is one of many accessible and compelling destinations in upstate New York. The project encapsulates “negative upstate attitudes toward solar” and that much was clear at a public hearing held Thursday, May 18, at Knox Town Hall to consider the proposed project [“Knox community airs long-standing complaints at RIC solar project hearing,” The Altamont Enterprise, May 19, 2023].

The project is back on the table after stalling out in 2021, when it faced strong opposition from residents and the Albany County Planning Board. It’s pretty obvious that the low marginal cost and effort needed for RIC Energy to resubmit their money-making solar project to the Knox Planning Board is more persuasive to them than local sentiment.

RIC Energy is clearly signaling that they really, really don’t care about residents and letting us know that we’d be fools to believe anything they say about the impact of the project.

Eli Fanning

Knox